. . . . 



c>; 





REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF ELEMENTARY IN- 

 STRUCTION FOR 1922 



Dr. C. Stuart Gager, Director. 



Sir: I herewith submit the following report, bringing to your 

 attention three aspects only of the work covered in 1922 by the 

 Department of Elementary Instruction. These may be classified 

 under the following heads : educational demands, equipment, and 

 departmental changes. 



Educational Demands 



The attendance figure of all visiting classes for the past year was 

 57,049 against 37,141 for 1921. The syllabus on Rubber prepared 

 for use in our lecture work with large groups of children received 

 such a warm welcome and was so much in demand that syllabi on 

 Coffee and Tea were prepared. Every member of a class coming 

 to hear a lecture on these subjects is presented with a syllabus. In 

 this way we feel that the lesson has been made more valuable for 

 both the children and the teachers, in that they have to carry back 

 with them, in printed form, the main facts which the subject cov- 

 ered. Such a syllabus is planned to be of a size that fits into the 

 pupil's regulation notebook. 



Material has been distributed to 1,595 teachers, which, in its class 

 use, has reached 6j,J$j children. This material is in the form of 

 mounts, twigs, plants, flower materials, etc. The time of the 

 Curator has been so taken in conference with teachers in regard to 

 work and methods of presenting such work in the classroom that 

 it seemed only right that some account should be kept of such 

 demands. During 1922, 49 individual and group conferences were 

 held by request with 4,187 teachers, and the plans worked out in 

 such conferences for class work in nature study affected 116,712 

 children. These conferences varied in time limit from one half 

 hour to sometimes two and three hours. Some unusual educational 

 work has been asked of us during 1922. Groups of children from 

 some of our elementary schools have been coming once a week for 

 a given number of weeks. Work given to them in the field, class- 

 room, and greenhouses is used later by the teachers as a basis for 



